I told her she's fine and that she could give everybody $1000 each and not be worried about it. That sounded good to her, so I was comfortable with the decision. Fast forward to last week. She came over for dinner and to go hear Adrianne sing at the high school Christmas concert. I took a look in her checkbook, because she always wants to know the balance. I saw that some checks had been written to two of my sister's kids. Let's just say that one of them has been taking advantage of grandma when it comes to asking for money, and I was not happy.
I blew up, told Mom what I thought about my nephew, dropped several f-bombs and generally had a meltdown. Of course, I picked up the phone and left a nasty message for my sister instructing her to reign in her kid or I'd do it for her! She called back a couple hours later and I really didn't hear what she said because I unloaded several years of resentments I have about her kids and what they're doing with my mom. Greed overrode logic, anger presided over calm and I said many things that I can never take back. Sounds like some 10th Step work is required. Ugh...
We do have to keep in mind that this disease can end up costing us a lot of money. Most of my family doesn't remember that. The money has flowed freely, partly due to the fact Mom can't remember what she's doing and how much she's already given to everybody, myself included. It's tough dealing with this: She's almost to the point of not being able to handle her finances and pay bills. It is a progressive disease. I know that. It's just hard admitting it.
